


In Another Life

by Floople_Doople



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: ...ish, ??? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, As NILES, Canon-Typical Violence, Do I count this as Major Character Death?, F/M, I apologize if there are any incorrect details, I mean there has to be a fucked up eye under that eyepatch, Involves some of Niles' past, Major Character Injury, Major Spoilers, Major character death - Freeform, Niles is NIles, Past Character Death, Pre-Canon, Reincarnation, Scars, and probably already disproven, cracky idea i was serious with, i guess, kind of, lmao almost forgot Leo, mostly headcanon, my thought process is inside, where when Robin died he went to Fates, workin on this for a while now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-03-13 00:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13558977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floople_Doople/pseuds/Floople_Doople
Summary: He had no idea who he was or where he was; he just knew something was both wrong and yet familiar with the situation.Literally a fic where I thought "HEY WHAT IF ROBIN WAS NILES AND VICE VERSA" and this just kind of happened





	1. Beginning-???

**Author's Note:**

> The reason I even came up with this is because my friend made a Flirty Robin AU  
> I jokingly thought to myself "lmao what if that was Male Robin"  
> Then "Oh so then he's Niles"  
> ".....wAIT"

He wasn’t sure where he was when he woke up. In fact, he wasn’t even sure of who he was. All he remembered was a lot of pain, before nothing at all. And his vision was curiously one-sided…

He covered his right eye. Everything went dark.

Great. Not only was he blind in one eye for some unknown reason, but he also didn’t know where he was, or even who he was.

Odd. He had a weird feeling that this memory issue had happened to him before. 

First things first though. Time to figure out where he was.

He took a good look around, analyzing his surroundings. It appeared he woke up in some dark alleyway. Something obviously happened, and there was a good chance it was something bad. Why else would he wake up in an alleyway blind in one eye and no memories to speak of?

He got up, and stumbled to his feet before taking a good long look at his surroundings. It appeared to be night out, seeing as how the only light around were from some distant lamp posts, aside from the moon. Seeing no other options, and how that was the only light source even remotely nearby, he began walking towards the lamp posts.

As he stepped into the light, he looked around. He realized quickly that he was alone, seeing how empty the streets were. It would have been disturbing, though he figured it was empty since it was night. Most people would be asleep by now anyway.

It still chilled him. 

He walked through the empty streets, the moon providing light when there were no lamp posts to guide him. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of awkwardness from not knowing his way around, as well as not knowing who he even was as a person. It also left him with this strange sense of deja vu.

As he walked, he noticed a few things about himself. Obviously, the being half-blind thing was an issue, but there appeared to be some scarring around the area, as he could feel it with his hands. Another thing-apparently he had dark skin. It could have just been due to the amount of light shining in the area, but it was more likely he had dark skin to begin with. And his hair was another thing. He somehow had white hair. Was he old? Or was that just something natural somehow?

He had so many questions that he was pretty sure weren’t going to be answered for a very long time, if they were answered at all. 

After a few minutes of walking aimlessly through empty streets, he was pretty sure he was just going in circles. Honestly, he was almost a hundred percent sure he already passed that house. Twice.

He decided to stop and try and figure out more about himself first. That’d be the best course of option. Considering the fact he woke up half-blind in an alleyway didn’t leave very good implications. 

Why did he wake up in the alley in the first place? Had he been knocked out? Was he mugged?

He scoffed to himself. If he had been mugged, he wouldn’t even know what was missing. 

He had probably been knocked out. Though a good question to ask would be why...apparently, whoever knocked him out hit him hard enough to cause memory loss. What was that called again…? Amnesia, or something like that.

Why did that sound familiar to him? Has this happened before? If so that was very worrying. How much of his memory is he missing?!

Another thing...what happened to his eye? Something obviously happened to it, for there to be what felt like scarring around it. It didn’t seem like something he’d be able to just walk away with alive, even if he did have one-sided vision. He supposed he should be thankful though.

Whatever happened to his eye, it didn’t seem like it was recent. He couldn’t feel any blood around the area, dried or otherwise. It wouldn’t have appeared to be scarred if it was recent too.

What did he know about himself? Well, he didn’t seem to be old, though he was at least in his teen years, if not slightly older. He had dark skin, though it could just be the light, as well as short white hair that seemed quite messy. 

At this point, he noticed that he had a cloak of some sort on him. Reaching to feel it led him to the discovery of the hood on it, which he pulled on quickly. It was reassuring, in a weird way.

Did he have any family? If he did, were they even looking for him? Or...did they not care? Was he alone in this world? Or...were they the reason he was in that alleyway with only one working eye and no memories to speak of?

He didn’t think about that possibility for long.

Right now, he had to learn as much about himself as he could, hopefully including his name and how he got here, as well as where he was exactly. 

The second one was going to be easier, since he could just ask someone where he was. It was the first part that was going to be difficult. After all, how do you regain lost memories? 

He decided to start with figuring out where he was. After all, that should be easy. All he had to do was find someone and ask where he was.

Wait.

It’s the middle of the night, or at least what appears to be.

No one would be awake at this time.

This was going to be harder than he originally thought, wasn’t it?

Change of plans-he was going wait until morning to find out where he was. For now, he was just going to have to figure out more about himself. He just had to figure out how.

He walked through the empty streets for a while before stopping in front of one of the houses that had windows that allowed a faint reflection. He paused and pulled back the hood, if only to see what he looked like.

He did have that short white hair, and his skin did appear to be dark as he suspected. 

It was his eye that startled him.

While his right eye was fine, albeit a strange shade of blue, his left eye was a mess. It appeared to be what were slash marks where his left eye was, not to mention what appeared to be scorch marks?! The eye itself was all clouded and, and no wonder he couldn’t see anything out of it! What the hell happened to him?!

It’d be best to find something to cover it with, he figured. If nothing else, just so he wouldn’t have to see it, much less anyone else. For now, he’d just keep the hood pulled low over his head, especially over his left eye. He’d just have to wait until he could find a cloth or an eyepatch or something to cover it properly.

Now he just had to find somewhere to sleep...at least until morning.

…

Either he slept an entire day, or morning did not exist somehow. It was still as dark as when he went to sleep in one of the empty alleyways.

Despite the fifty-fifty shot of either possibility being true, he decided to get up anyway. Maybe it was actually morning...even if there was no sun to confirm it. 

If that was the case, then it must be pretty difficult living here. No sun meant that very little crops could grow, right? How did these people live then? 

He stopped himself from thinking too much about it in favor of trying to find someone to ask where he was.

…

Somehow, he managed to find himself in a very lively underground city. It baffled him. For one, he didn’t even know how he got here. He had just been walking, lost in thought, and he wound up here. For two...it was the fact it was so lively despite being underneath the actual city. Was being above ground that bad?

He walked to one of the booths that was being run by an old elderly woman. She seemed a bit startled when he stopped in front of her, though she quickly recovered. It was probably his appearance that startled her.

“Well, hello there sir! What can I do for you?” she said, surprisingly energetic for someone of her age.

It reminded him of someone...somehow.

“Er...I was wondering...where am I?” he asked slowly, managing to mask his surprise of hearing his own voice for the first time.

If the old woman was surprised by his question, she didn’t show it.

“You’re currently underneath Windmire, the capital of Nohr!” she said, a cheerful grin on her face.

So he was underneath the capital of somewhere called Nohr. Well, at least he knew where he was. The only issue was figuring out who he actually was. How the hell are you supposed to go about remembering who you are as a person? He thanked the old woman for the information and walked off.

He supposed that he would probably have to come up with a name for himself-at least, until he figured out what his name actually was.

Eventually, he settled on Zero. Why Zero? It was a reminder that this was only a placeholder name, and would only be a placeholder name until he found out what his true name was.

...if he ever remembered what his name was.

Zero shook these thoughts out of his head. Right now, he’d have to focus on the task at hand. That task would be finding out if anyone knew him, and if they did, hopefully get them to tell him who he was.

…

No one recognized him.

That wasn’t good.

…

Some guy gestured him over. Maybe they recognized him? It was the best bet he had.

He hoped he wasn't making a mistake.


	2. Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WOOO BOY I FINALLY UPDATED-anyway hope you enjoy and apologies if anything is out of character or incorrect

Zero had been traveling with this band of thieves for a long time now. If he had to guess, he'd say about two years or so. He didn’t really care for the exact amount of time at the moment. They were the closest thing to a family he had. At least, a family he at least remembered having. 

That still bothered him. The fact that a group of thieves was the closest thing, the only thing he could call a family. 

Regardless, these past years spent with the thieves had taught him enough about the world to know how to operate in it. The rich lived in luxury while the “less fortunate” had to beg and steal if not murder just to get by. It was almost sickening just how carefree the rich were, how oblivious they were to the suffering of others.

Zero took it back. It was sickening.

He forced the thoughts out of his mind. He had to focus. This would be their biggest heist yet, so everyone needed to be ready and alert for any and all situations. One wrong move would spell the end for both the heist and their lives.

As of now, he was waiting for the signal to make their getaway. It was taking unusually long - Kina was normally much quicker than this. Did something go wrong? Before he could think about it for too long, he heard the signal - a simple “hoo hoo”- and he took off towards their meeting point. Maybe now they would have enough to live well enough without having to go on heists every other day.

Not much longer later, he could see the meeting point just up ahead. Where were the others though? Had they been caught? Zero couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry for his fellow thieves.

That pang of worry immediately shifted gears to horror when a sharp pain shot through his leg, causing him to crash into the floor. Just as he hit the ground, he saw Kina and the others dash past - and one of them had their bow drawn and an arrow missing.

Zero had the sinking feeling he knew what happened. It was only confirmed when someone called out, “Thanks for being our bait Zero!” with that stupid smirk and a mocking laugh.

He could only lay there in growing horror and hurt. They...they betrayed him. The only semblance of family he had, and they betrayed him just like that. Deep down, Zero figured he should have seen it coming, but...did those years they spent together really mean nothing? 

He had to stop and think. He had to find some way out of this.

…

What was the point? What was the point of even trying to get out of this? He was going to die. His family - no, those thieves - thought he was useless enough to leave behind. They left him behind because he was dead weight. An amnesiac who was never truly useful to them in the first place.

He simply let his one good eye stare at the ground, the other having been hidden under bandages in vain hope that the scars would fade, as the guards grabbed him, most likely to throw him in the dungeon. He was admittedly surprised when they instead dumped him at the feet of a blonde young man. Judging by his clothing, he assumed this young man was part of the royal family. He was soon proven correct.

“Lord Leo sir! We caught this one, but the rest got away! What do you propose we do?” one of the guards asked, gesturing to Zero.

The young man - correction, Lord Leo - gave him this odd glance. It wasn’t disgust, Zero had seen it enough times to know, but it wasn’t pity either. It was more like he was observing some kind of animal. 

Then again, that gaze was nothing new to him either. The younger nobles would also stare at him like that if they ever caught a glimpse of him. Not many of them got the chance to see the lowest of the low. That honor was reserved for their older, far more guilty selves. 

“Go after the ones that got away, try to find where they went. Leave this one here with me,” Lord Leo ordered, a good number of the guards saluting before running off in the direction his-that group of thieves had gone in. It was no use. They would already be back to their base by now. A couple of the guards stayed in the room, leaving Zero on the floor with the arrow still in his leg. If he was lucky, they’d kill him immediately. If not, he’d rot in prison for the rest of his life.

The prince looked down at him, both figuratively and literally. Zero was already waiting to be executed when the prince spoke.

“Well? Aren’t you going to beg for your life?” Lord Leo asked, seemingly waiting for the thief before him to start asking to be spared.

Far from it.

“On the contrary, I’d like you to just kill me.” Zero stared at the prince, certain his request would get him quite the bewildered expression.

As he thought, the prince’s eyes grew wide at Zero’s sudden request, though he seemingly regained his composure.

“Did I hear that correctly? You want me to kill you?” The prince repeated, confused eyes betraying the otherwise calm and composed tone.

“You heard me correctly. Kill me. Execution, rotting away in prison, battle to the death, I don’t care. Just kill me.” Zero, oh how fitting that name was now, continued to stare at the bewildered prince.

The prince appeared to think for a moment. Most likely deciding how Zero would die. A curious expression came over his face.

“Guards, take him to the infirmary. Have the healers remove the arrow in his leg, and report to me when he is healed.” With that, the prince left the room.

Zero was definitely confused. Why was this Lord Leo having healers waste their time over helping him when he was going to die anyway? Most likely to make his death more entertaining, yet it was still perplexing to him.

…

Zero fiddled with the bow he held in his hands. It had been about a week since the prince had ordered his leg be treated, and he was deemed well enough by the healers to walk. That had been when the prince appeared, handing him the bow and whisking him away to what appeared to be the training grounds. Several targets had been set up, some out in the open and others in rather hard-to-hit spots.

He gave the prince a confused glance. Why wasn’t he dead yet? Was the prince just trying to see if he’d be good entertainment? Zero had so many questions.

“Now...I’d like to see if you’ve any skill with a bow. Shoot for all the targets, and we shall see how well you do,” the prince said, a look Zero had rarely seen before.

The prince wasn’t observing him like he was some sort of animal anymore. Now he just seemed...curious, as to what Zero would do. Genuine curiosity about another human being. About him of all people. 

As Zero got ready to fire at the targets, unsure of what else to do, a voice piped up in his mind. It sounded strange...but familiar, in an odd sort of way. The image of a man with blueish hair and a bit of a smirk on his face planted itself in his mind as the voice, assumedly belonging to the man, spoke.

“See, hold the bow with your nondominant hand. Now, draw back the arrow, and aim with your dominant hand. Aim...and fire! Not bad, for a beginner. Perhaps one day, you shall catch up to me, Virion, the archest of archers!” 

Virion.

Finally, a name. Just...who was this man to him? Important enough to be remembered when he looked at the bow, but other than that? Nothing.

He’d follow through with what he had remembered of this Virion telling him. He held the bow in his non-dominant hand, aimed with his dominant hand, and fired. And fired, and fired again. He was almost surprised to see that he hit the bullseye on nearly all of the targets.

The prince seemed to nod in approval.

“I’ve made my decision. What is your name?” he suddenly asked, catching Zero off guard.

“Er...Zero,” Zero reluctantly replied, giving the name he had been using for the past couple of years. He was only confused when the prince gave him a curious look, as if he felt...pity?

“Zero? That...that can’t possibly be your real name…” the prince questioned quietly, to which Zero only shrugged.

“It’s the name I gave myself,” he said, and immediately regretted when the prince’s eyes turned to stare at him. It was almost, and kind of was, uncomfortable.

“You...named yourself?”

“Yes? I might have had a different name to begin with, but I couldn’t remember it even if I wanted to. So, I named myself Zero.”

The prince thought for a moment.

“Rather than Zero...What about Niles?”

He stared at the prince, confusion quite clear in his eye.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, what about Niles as your name? It’s better than Zero.” the prince said. “Besides, you shall be working under me from now on, so it’s better if my retainer has a proper name.”

Zero - or, Niles now - was only more confused.

“I tried to steal from you, and instead of killing me, you want me to be your retainer?”

The prince simply nodded.

“Well, you definitely have skills, and I am in need of a retainer anyway. This is simply...convenient. So, do you accept my offer of becoming my retainer? I assure you, it is far better than simply dying or living on the streets.”

Niles gave him a confused stare. This situation - a prince offering him a position instead of letting him die - seemed strangely familiar. He was amazed that any noble would even willing to let him live. Perhaps this prince - was he to call him Lord Leo now? - was different from the other corrupt nobles he had met in his years on the streets. Well, he could think about it later.

“I..I accept your offer, Lord Leo. I, Niles, pledge my loyalty you.”

For now, Niles had a prince to serve.


End file.
